Constitutional delays

NNSL (DEC 20/96) - Public hearings on the draft constitution for the Western Arctic are on hold.

A lack of funding for the process is to blame, but the acting executive director of the Constitutional Working Group, which unveiled a draft constitution in October, said delays are inevitable.

"Of course we expected delays. This is a highly politicized process," said Fred Koe. "You have to expect slow-downs whenever you get so many groups and so many people involved in a process like this."

A public vote on a final draft constitution - tentatively planned for next June - has been pushed back to next October at the earliest, also because of the delay.

"We have no choice. Without the funding it's impossible to do the work. But even if we have all the money in the world, we still need time to let the process run its course," said Koe.

The federal and territorial governments have indicated they are committed to funding Western constitutional development, he said.

However, budgets, terms and conditions have yet to be negotiated, much less finalized.

Two months ago the working group requested $366,000 from the governments to fund its work from Oct. 1 through to March 31, 1997.

Koe said that number doesn't stand any more, and a new budget will have to be negotiated.

Some have speculated that Ottawa won't come through with any funding unless the draft constitution receives a positive response from Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Ron Irwin.

Irwin has yet to voice any opinion on the draft constitution - positive or negative, Koe said.

A meeting of the three parties planned for this week didn't materialize. Koe said another meeting can't be held until early January.

"But every day you wait, it takes that much longer for you to catch up," he said.